Hello Fellow RenFolk,
I've never been to VARF before, my home faire is MDRF. However, I stumbled upon the VARF site last year and contemplated applying to vend (I'm a chainmailler). At the time, I didn't own a period tent and did not have enough time to have one made so I never did get to go.
This year, however, I'm the proud owner of a Panther Primitives tent and I would like to apply for VARF. Having never attended before, I'm not sure what to expect. Can anyone give me any insight or advice? Part of me wants to just attend as a patron this year for some first hand experience and then apply to vend next year. I generally dislike coming into something completely sight unseen. At the same time, I hate missing out on opportunities and fun...
Thanks!
Virginia
Well VARF is a soft site (all tents) and sits on about 7.5 acres at the Lake Anna Winery in Spotsylvania, VA. We are a small faire but a growing faire. We bring about 10,000 through the gates over 5 weekends. We are not open on Memorial Day. For cast, volunteers, vendors and entertainers there is on site camping available, however it is primitive camping (no water or electric hookups). Vendor sites can have access to electric if needed as we run several large generators for power. You can be a vendor for only 1 weekend, several weekends or the full run so if you come opening weekend and decide you'd like to be a vendor, it might be possible to do so although signing up at http://www.varf.org/vendor-info.html before the season is your best bet if you want to make sure you get a spot this year. I hope this helps answer some of your questions.
Thank you very much for the info. I have perused the pictures on their website in an attempt to get a "feel" for the faire. It's just better to get opinions from folks who know first hand.
I'm still debating on whether to apply or not this year...
Sadly they don't have a lot of pictures on the site right now so here are mine (or should I say whoever took them for me with my camera since I'm on cast?) from last year. They give you a better picture of the overall faire site.
http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/573082265KlTaKP
http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/572484467yIJOMG
http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/572247096GpqyNC
Hope these help.
I've downloaded the vendor application and filled it out. I'll send it out soon but there's one thing I haven't figured out yet:
Do we set up our tent every Friday and tear it down every Sunday night for the full run of Faire? I'm planning to do the last three weeks in a row and that Panther tent is a *itch to put up. At the same time, if it isn't a secure site, I wouldn't want to leave it there.
I encourage you to drop an e-mail to vendor@varf.org or call the number on the application -- our vendor coordinator will be happy to answer your questions.